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What exactly is dyslexia? How does it affect those who suffer from it? Are there any dyslexia reading strategies? These questions often arise among education professionals, parents of dyslexic children, student, or anyone else who is affected by this condition.
In this article we’d like to focus on this disability and try and understand it better in order to address it with the appropriate tools.
If you are interested in learning more about activities and strategies for managing dyslexia, read on!
Dyslexia definition
According to the International Dyslexia Association, dyslexia is defined as “a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. ” In addition, the association also highlights problems in reading comprehension and a reduced reading experience as some possible consequences of this disability.
The impacts of this disorder are varied, and often involve delayed acquisition of reading skills, slower vocabulary development, and difficulty interpreting abstract information and concepts. Although it is not considered a “serious” condition, it can still have a major effect on someone’s life. That’s why it is really important to detect it as soon as possible, in order to implement relevant habits and dyslexia reading strategies that help mitigate its effects.
Dyslexia reading strategies
There are different dyslexia reading strategies you can implement to improve fluency in processing texts and make it easier to live with this disability:
- Promote multisensory learning
Multisensory learning utilizes several senses at once. For this reason, it is a good dyslexia reading strategy, since it offers an alternative or complement to the use of sight. Indeed, dyslexic people have difficulty learning and recognizing words at first glance, therefore, using other senses to record this information is of great supportive. Techniques such as writing in the sand, writing in the air, or “tapping” the sounds allow you to associate each letter and syllable with the corresponding sound, using other mechanisms to register and retrieve the information, such as muscle memory or auditory memory.
- Foster shared reading
Shared reading is also a good way to learn with dyslexia. In this type of activity, the dyslexic person can follow the written text as the partner reads it out loud. The association of sounds with words is made more enjoyable, since it does not require the massive decoding of letters that tends to be more difficult for dyslexic people. Also, it is an opportunity to question the reader about the meaning of the words and ensure the understanding of each one of them to improve their handling and expand their vocabulary.
- Use audiobooks
To overcome the possible reading difficulties caused by dyslexia in kids, audiobooks are also a good option. As a matter of fact, they offer some of the same benefits that we have highlighted in the shared reading section. But they also allow people to perceive reading (in its various forms) as an enjoyable activity. This is very important, as the difficulties of reading for dyslexic children can lead them to become frustrated and reject everything linked with this activity, hindering them in their learning. Audiobooks help them enjoying stories and acquire reading habits that will be beneficial for coping with this disability and for their general learning process.
- Implement reading comprehension exercises
It is observed that dyslexia in kids can cause problems in the interpretation of texts. As a matter of fact, dyslexic people tend to spend more energy and time in the decoding phase. The brain concentrates intensely on recognizing words, which does not leave “space” to process other types of information such as the general meaning of the story and the linking of events. In this case, the textual thread is lost and the overall meaning of the information read is not understood. Dyslexia reading strategies also encompass hard work on reading comprehension, through questions that help to establish the context, identify. and memorize new words. Following that type of routine in reading will also help them automate the process of comprehension checking, learning to identify on time what is understood and what is not.
As we have seen, there are different exercises and dyslexia reading strategies that can help those who suffer from it (children as well as adults) to improve their reading skills. If this disability concerns you, don’t hesitate to resort to tools that provide you access to reading in an adaptive way through audiobooks, reading plans and fonts specially designed for a more enjoyable reading experience. In any case, in any discipline the key to improving a skill is … practicing it. So, you know what you have to do!